Abstract Thursday : : Zebra Grass

I am partly fascinated and entirely disgusted by the goings-on regarding impeachment in Washington just now. I believe that the time has come that the House of Representatives must invoke the Articles of Impeachment, regardless of the willingness of the senate majority to continue to support what has clearly been an abuse of power on the part of Donald Trump.The limited nature of the public attention span, and the ability of the president to lie, obfuscate, confuse and generally muddy the waters with impunity and a total disregard for the law is a pretty sad combination.

 It used to be that a subpoena was taken seriously...that simply choosing not to respond to one was not an option. If the executive branch is allowed to stonewall requests for information from congress (as Trump already has with requests for his income tax returns and during the Mueller investigation) and nobody questions why, it is not only a sad statement about our electorate but about the democratic process in general. I am reading the New Yorker's attempt to give a clear version of what who did what to whom in Ukraine. When I finish it I am going to do my best not to listen to the endless rounds of parsing and interpretation. It only muddies the waters further.

It is sort of fascinating to observe that when the rule of law is flaunted with such impunity, nobody really knows what to do. It's like having someone look you straight in the eye and swear on a stack of bibles that black is white. You can bring out what you consider proof to refute the statement, but if the person continues to insist what do you do? 

I retreat to my garden and turn off the news....